Beauty in the Breakdown
by Jack-A-Lynn
Summary: Horatio's mind contemplates a case result as he sleeps, set to the song "Let Go" by Frou Frou.


_Beauty in the Breakdown:_

Author: Jack-A-Lynn aka Kassie 

Disclaimer(s):  I own nothing of the CSI: Miami franchise. Nor do I own the lyrics that inspired this fic.

Just a quick CSI: Miami fanfiction I came up with on the school bus, while listening to "Let Go" by Frou Frou.

There isn't much background story to this, because I want to get this out to the public.

In the driveway to his home, Lieutenant Horatio Caine directed his eyes skyward, contemplating the meaning of the case he had just finished. Surely he never deserved to witness what he had, although this was what he had signed up for, the risk that he inevitably took on every case.

Every movement Horatio made became a blur to his memory; nothing worth remembering or noting as he made his way into that forsaken paradise that he referred to as 'home'. Weariness was setting in quickly, reflecting in his azure blue eyes.

The house always seemed so lonely, and they were. He was alone. Sighing, Horatio took a spot on his bed, sitting with a glass of water, and loosening his tie.

_Drink up baby doll  
Are you in or are you out?  
Leave your things behind  
'Cause it's all going off without you._

"Speed…" he sighed once again, and managed to wrestle an old album from under his bed. He kept documentation of the news coverage that the CSI's of Miami-Dade district rarely seemed to get. Now that he was away from the crew, away from any conceivable attention from the team, he ghosted his fingers over a snapshot of Timothy Speedle, no doubt taken at the annual Christmas party.

A small smirk graced his worn face, as the memory floated through his mind. Speedle had become slightly drunk, for lack of a better word, that night; removed a lampshade from Horatio's lamp in his office, and wore it as a hat. They were all so young and vibrant, full of hopes and dreams back then.

_Excuse me too busy you're writing your tragedy  
These mishaps  
You bubble-wrap  
When you've no idea what you're like._

Taking only one sip off of his glass of water, Horatio set it upon his nightstand, and relocated to lie down, still in his work clothing. For that moment in time, it didn't matter. All that mattered was the tide of silken silence, dark, as sleep took over him.

_It gains the more it gives  
And then it rises with the fall  
So hand me that remote  
Can't you see that all that stuff's a sideshow?_

Tragically to him, the visions behind his eyelids were the horrors that he had only met in the reality of protecting Miami.

He had rushed through the abandoned warehouse on the more secluded area of Miami. Racing against the clock, human nature, time…emotion. It didn't matter that back up squadrons would be on their way, right in front of the warehouse in only several minutes. Horatio had a life to save.

In the bare darkness of that warehouse, a small scream echoed off the walls, and quickly, Horatio directed his flashlight beam to a corner, where huddled on the ground, lay an eight year old girl, and cowering over her, her brother, the main suspect of a bomb threat and arson case.

"Horatio!" the little girl cried out, her voice quivering in fear. She had helped the whole team in this investigation, and now, here she was, about to become the next casualty, unless Horatio could find a way to save her.

"Don't you dare move, Caine." Mort Callahan snarled. "She lead you right to me. Whatever faith family is supposed to offer…it was broken. All because of a crush." He threw down small leather bound book, a diary. Kaitay's diary.

The book skittered to Horatio's feet, as he stared on in disbelief. He quickly reached for his gun, as secretly as possible, but his body froze at the sound of a gun cocking.

"You hear that, _Lieutenant_? That, my friend, is a very scary sound."

_Such boundless pleasure  
We've no time for later  
Now you can't await  
your own arrival  
you've twenty seconds to comply._

Horatio tossed and turned on his bed, silver beams of moon ray streaming in through the window of his bedroom, dancing over his fitfully sleeping form. He remembered the trading gunshots, resulting in the instant, and professional death of Morton Callahan, and the injury of Kaitay Callahan, as in his last moments, Mort had prepared his gun, ready to shoot her.

The perversity of Mort's mind had lead him to kick her in the ribs, giving Horatio his chance to shoot, forcing him to drop his gun, collapsing in a pile of vile, sweet silence.

The paper work had seemed to take an eternity, but it was worth it, to have saved an innocent little life, so ready to help for the cause of good.

_So, let go, so let go  
Jump in  
Oh well, what you waiting for?  
It's alright  
'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown._

By the first light of morning, Horatio was up, and at the hospital, in the waiting room, when a small voice was heard from just infront of one of the doorways.

"Horatio!" the jubilant, young voice called out, disregarding any pain that bruising to her ribs had caused.

"Well, Kaitay," Horatio remarked, with a slight, youthful grin as well, his eyes flooding with compassion for the little heart of gold. "I came by to see how my best detective was feeling."

"M..me? Your best detective?" her young face filled with awe, before blush took over. She giggled, and gently wrapped her tiny arms around his shoulders, when he knelt down to nod in confirmation.

"I told my Mom all about you!" she exclaimed in excitement and pride. She nodded to behind the admittance door, where a woman, no more than forty, with bright eyes, and a tired smile nodded in gratitude for everything, her smile widening slightly when she received an acknowledging smile back from Horatio.

"Kaitay, you'll be just fine." Horatio spoke softly, his voice filled with the same compassion that reflected in his eyes, as he gave the little girl one last hug, and got to his feet, heading out for the door.

In a hesitation, he turned back, and grinning in spite of himself, as he spoke again. "Maybe I'll get the luck of working with you again, on the team someday."

And with that remark, Horatio made his way out of the door, and into the sunlit day that awaited him outside.

_So, let go, yeah let go  
Just get in  
Oh, it's so amazing here  
It's all right  
'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown_

_There's beauty in the breakdown…_


End file.
